Legendary Scottish cyclist Katie Archibald has announced her retirement from professional cycling. The 32-year-old has ‘fallen in love’ with training to become a nurse, calling time on a 13-year cycling career that included seven World Championship golds, 26 European Championships medals and two Olympic titles.
Archibald made the switch from swimmer to cyclist and stepped up to the senior level with the track endurance squad in 2013. She would go on to become the first Scottish woman to win a world title, and make history alongside Laura Kenny as the pair raced to the first women’s Madison gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
On her retirement, Archibald said, ‘I’ve been born in the right place at the right time with a talent that’s let me make a job of something people do for fun. The draw of the “real world” has been pulling me for a while, but I’ve been too scared to leave the world I know and love and, ultimately, to let go of something I’m good at.
‘It’s not a very clean answer, but now is the right time simply because I’m not scared anymore. I can’t claim to know why that is, but for some reason I only have a craving to live the life I’ve been saving for a rainy day, and no fear that I’ll miss the sunshine. It’s simply time.’
Archibald describes one career highlight coming in 2024, when she was racing in the Madison at the UCI Nations Cup with Neah Evans: ‘I’ve had a few Madisons like this, but the Milton one stands out because it was meant to be our final major event before the Paris Olympics. I’ve never felt more connected to what I’m doing, so in control of every decision and reaction, and so sure I was exactly where I was meant to be, doing exactly what I was made to do.’
She was unable to compete in the Paris Olympics due to a freak injury but rallied to recover in time to retain the team pursuit title at the World Championships that same year.
Archibald began her first-year training to be a nurse last September and has ‘fallen completely in love’ with it: ‘When I let my friends and teammates know I was retiring from sport, they assumed it was because I wasn’t coping doing both. The truth is, though, that there’s still a lot of “student” in “student nurse”. I’ve had plenty of free time to train, and most of my classmates have jobs and families and commitments more taxing than mine.
‘I really want to stress that the nursing training isn’t forcing me into retirement. At the same time, this thing that I’m just enamoured with is making me excited for the future, and that makes this transition less scary. I just finished my first placement a couple months ago, and it feels so special being someone people can trust when they need help. Part of that trust, of course, is knowing that nothing leaves the room unless they choose to share it. For that reason, I’m keen to step back from what little part of the public eye I’m in.
‘I’m looking forward to finding a new identity, and to inevitably feeling self-conscious when I don’t live up to that one either.’
Archibald also enjoyed a career on the road, from beginnings in 2014 with Madison–Boot Out Breast Cancer Care to a finale with Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling a decade later.
When discussing her legacy, she hopes to have made an impact on the individuals she worked with: ‘I suppose that’s the same “legacy” we all have in our day to day lives, but it still feels valuable. They’ve all made an impact on me. I’m also the reason you say “P1” instead of “man 1” if you’re a woman who rides team pursuit for the GBCT, I guess that’s a bit of legacy.’
Ever humble. It’s one part of a great legacy indeed.